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HBO Max

American video streaming service

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Through Netflix and Discovery+

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The service also carries first-run original programming under the "Max Originals" banner, programming from the HBO pay television service, and content acquired via either third-party library deals (such as those with film studios for pay television rights) or co-production agreements (including, among others, those with BBC Studios and Sesame Workshop). When the service was first launched as HBO Max, it succeeded both HBO Now, a previous HBO SVOD service; and HBO Go, the TV Everywhere streaming platform for HBO pay television subscribers. In the United States, HBO Now subscribers and HBO pay television subscribers were migrated to HBO Max at no additional charge, subject to availability and device support. HBO Max also supplanted the streaming component of DC Entertainment's DC Universe service, with its original series being migrated to HBO Max as Max Originals. The HBO Max service began to expand into international markets in 2021.

According to AT&T, HBO and HBO Max had a combined total of 69.4 million paying subscribers globally on June 30, 2021, including 43.5 million HBO Max subscribers in the U.S., 3.5 million HBO-only U.S. subscribers (primarily commercial customers like hotels), and 20.5 million subscribers to either HBO Max or HBO by itself in other countries. By the end of 2021, HBO and HBO Max had a combined total of 73.8 million paying global subscribers. At the end of Q1 2022, HBO and HBO Max had 76.8 million global subscribers.

Since the April 2022 merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery, Inc. to form WBD, HBO Max is one of the combined company's two flagship streaming services, the other being Discovery+ (which primarily focuses on factual and reality programming from the Discovery brands). WBD initially announced plans for HBO Max and Discovery+ to merge in 2023, but the company ultimately chose to retain Discovery+. As part of the decision, WBD migrated some Discovery+ shows to Max while also leaving them on Discovery+. WBD went on to replace HBO Max with a newly rebranded service, shortening the service's name to "Max", which launched in the United States on May 23, 2023, in Latin America and Caribbean on February 27, 2024, and in Europe on May 21, 2024, introducing a redesigned user interface, and adding more Discovery content. The rebrand was also applied to Netherlands, Poland, France, and several other regions in 2024. In Belgium and the Netherlands, the name "HBO Max" was retained with a new Max logo. As of May 2025, Discovery+ and Max have reached a combined total of 122.3 million subscribers. On May 14, 2025, it was announced that the "HBO Max" branding would return, reverting to its original name on July 9, 2025.

History

Original HBO Max branding

On October 10, 2018, WarnerMedia announced that it would launch an over-the-top streaming service in late 2019, featuring content from its entertainment brands. The original plan for the service called for three tiers with a late 2019 launch. Randall L. Stephenson, chairman and CEO of WarnerMedia's parent, AT&T indicated in mid-May 2019 that it would use the HBO brand and would tie into cable operators as HBO cable subscribers would have access to the streaming service. A beta was expected in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a full launch in the first quarter of 2020 at the time.

Otter Media was transferred in May 2019 to WarnerMedia Entertainment from Warner Bros. to take over the streaming service as Brad Bentley, executive vice president and general manager of direct-to-consumer development, exited the post after six months. Andy Forssell transferred from being the chief operating officer of Otter to replace Bentley as executive vice president and general manager while still reporting to Otter CEO Tony Goncalves, who would lead development.

On July 9, 2019, WarnerMedia announced that the service would be known as "HBO Max" and that it would launch in spring 2020, while Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine and Greg Berlanti were signed to production deals for the service. (The "Max" moniker is shared with HBO's sister linear pay television service Cinemax, which has alternately identified by its suffix name since the mid-1980s and used it prominently in its branding from 2008 to 2011.) On October 29, 2019, it was announced that HBO Max would officially launch in May 2020.

On January 8, 2020, AT&T announced that Audience, a channel exclusive to subscribers of AT&T-owned television providers such as DirecTV with some original programming, would be sunset on May 22, eventually transitioning to a barker channel for HBO Max. Warner Bros. and HBO Max announced the Warner Max film label on February 5, 2020, which would produce eight to ten mid-budget movies per year for the streaming service starting in 2020. On April 20, 2020, WarnerMedia announced HBO Max's launch date as May 27. Later that year on October 23, it was announced that WarnerMedia decided to consolidate the Warner Max label into the Warner Bros. Pictures Group after its chairman, Toby Emmerich, and his development and production team led by Courtenay Valenti of Warner Bros. Pictures, Richard Brener of New Line and Walter Hamada (who oversees DC-based films), was put to manage the company's entire film output, both theatrical and streaming releases.

Warner Bros. Discovery era

In July 2022, as a part of a cost-cutting and strategic move following the merger of Discovery, Inc. with WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), it was reported that HBO Max had ceased new original series development in Central Europe, Nordic countries, the Netherlands, and Turkey, as well as removed selected international series from the platform worldwide. It was reported that France and Spain had been largely excluded from these cuts, due to French regulations requiring streaming services to produce domestic content, and Spanish-language content appealing to a wide range of markets served by HBO Max. With the cancellation of Gordita Chronicles later that month, it was reported that the service was also abandoning development of live-action children's and family programming.

On August 3, 2022, it was reported that multiple Max Original films and HBO series had been quietly removed from the service without prior notice as part of cuts to direct-to-streaming films. The company then wrote off films and series that had underperformed on the service. It was also thought that avoiding payment for residuals played a part. This followed news that had broken the previous day that then-upcoming Max Original films Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt had been both abruptly cancelled, despite being nearly complete. During an earnings call the next day, WBD CEO David Zaslav stated that the company would cut children's programming and emphasize theatrical films over direct-to-streaming releases.

Later that month, more programs were pulled from the streaming service, including animated and unscripted series such as The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo, Final Space, Summer Camp Island, Infinity Train, Close Enough, most content from Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, the entirety of the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, and nearly 200 episodes of Sesame Street, which was met with heavy backlash from fans, critics, actors, and creators alike. On August 24, 2022, the HBO Max original films House Party (which was pulled from its slate just 17 days before its release) and Evil Dead Rise were both shifted to theatrical releases. WBD later reached licensing deals with the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services The Roku Channel and Tubi (owned by Fox Corporation) in 2023; the deal covers over 2,000 hours of library programming, some of which being shows that had been pulled from HBO Max.

During its third-quarter earnings report in November 2022, WBD stated that the merged service was now targeting a "Spring 2023" launch in the U.S., ahead of the original schedule. Perrette also stated of a potential price increase for HBO Max's ad-free tier in 2023, explaining that it was "an opportunity, particularly in this environment". A price hike for the ad-free tier in the U.S. was later announced on January 12, 2023, which saw the price raised by $1 to $15.99 a month (the yearly plan would be unaffected by this move), effective immediately for new subscribers, while current subscribers would see the price hike starting on February 11, 2023.

Rebrand as Max

On March 14, 2022, after Discovery shareholders approved its merger with WarnerMedia, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels stated that the company planned to pursue an eventual merger of HBO Max with its own streaming service Discovery+. Wiedenfels stated that this process would most likely begin with a bundle of the two services as a short-term option, with a long-term goal to eventually merge the services into one platform.

During an earnings call in August 2022, WBD head of Global Streaming and Interactive JB Perrette revealed that Discovery+ and HBO Max would merge "next Summer", with the unified service launching first in the United States, and rolled out to other markets beginning in late-2023. When announcing the merged service, Zaslav did not immediately indicate whether it would continue to carry the HBO brand. He stated that HBO was one of the "great crown jewels of the company" and would "always be the beacon and the ultimate brand that stands for the best of television quality". In early-December 2022, it was reported by CNBC via inside sources that multiple names were being considered—including simply "Max".

In February 2023, Zaslav revealed during an earnings call that WBD would officially announce the service on April 12. He also announced that WBD would continue operating Discovery+ in conjunction with the service rather than shut it down, stating that it was profitable, and that its subscribers were "very happy with the product offering". One day before the scheduled announcement, The New York Times confirmed that the service would be called "Max", and that it would retain HBO Max's existing pricing and be available in multiple price tiers for six months (on December 5 its legacy ad-free tier will be removed with former users in this tier downgrading to the ads-supported tier after this date). WBD acquired the max.com domain name earlier that year from Max International, a nutritional supplement company, for $1.8 million.

WBD officially unveiled Max on April 12: the new service would first launch in the United States on May 23, and in other regions throughout 2023 and 2024. While the new service maintains similar price points to HBO Max, support for 4K resolution video and Dolby Atmos became exclusive to the new "Ultimate" tier, and the ad-free plan was also reduced from four concurrent streams to two. In addition to all Warner Bros. Pictures releases from 2023 onward, WBD plans to have more library films and television series available on Max in 4K.

Perrette explained that the HBO branding had been dropped from the service's name so that it could be associated with its original programming as a flagship brand on Max, rather than having to be associated with the entirety of its library—which included children's and family programming at odds with HBO having traditionally been associated with premium and adult-oriented programming. The Max logo was designed by the British agency DixonBaxi, and incorporates elements of both the HBO and Warner Bros. logos, including a center-dotted "a" resembling the center-dotted "O" from the HBO logo, and the "m" and "x" letters containing curves based on Warner Bros.' long-time shield logo. The service also changed its corporate color from purple to blue, in homage to Warner Bros.' historical use of blue-colored logos, and to reflect a value of being "premium but accessible".

The rebrand was promoted with the tagline "The one to watch". Pato Spagnoletto, chief marketing officer of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming, identified the campaign as the largest marketing spend in company history. WBD's stock fell by nearly six percent after Max's announcement. Within the first 3 months of Max's rebrand, WBD lost 1.8 million subscribers across their streaming platforms, but attributed it to an overlap of subscribers of Max and Discovery+, as well as expected churn. In November 2023, it was reported that WBD lost 2.5 million subscribers over a six-month period, with their shares falling 19% as a result.

In May 2024, WBD announced a partnership with Disney Streaming to offer a bundle of Max with Disney+ and Hulu in the United States. It was launched on July 25, 2024, at a price of $16.99 per-month for ad-supported, and $29.99 per-month for ad-free.

Return to HBO Max branding

In February 2025, Max soft-launched a rebranding as part of its launch in Australia, changing its corporate colors from blue to monochrome; media outlets noted that this design (which uses silver or black-colored logos) closer-resembled the branding of HBO itself. The rebrand was launched globally on March 30, 2025.

On May 14, 2025, during its upfronts, WBD announced plans to globally rename the service back to "HBO Max" later in the year. Zaslav explained that "the powerful growth we have seen in our global streaming service is built around the quality of our programming". CEO of HBO and Max Content Casey Bloys added that the HBO brand "clearly states our implicit promise to deliver content that is recognized as unique and, to steal a line we always said at HBO, worth paying for." On June 10, 2025, it was announced that HBO Max would expand its global rollout to 12 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where it would launch in July 2025. On July 8, 2025, it was reported that the rebranding back to "HBO Max" would begin to roll out on July 9, with Variety reporting that WBD executives wanted it to take effect before the announcement of the nominations for the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance

On December 5, 2025, Netflix announced that it would acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for $72 billion. The deal would include HBO Max alongside the main HBO network, the Warner Bros. film, game and television studios, DC Entertainment/DC Studios, while excluding Discovery+, CNN, as well as the company's linear television networks, which would be spun off into the Discovery Global company. Paramount Skydance (which hold several networks previously owned by Warner such as MTV, Nickelodeon, The Movie Channel, VH1 and Comedy Central; Paramount and Warner both own their respective stakes at The CW and Philo) would later launch a hostile takeover bid for the entirety of WBD three days later for an enterprise value of $108.4 billion.

After receiving a contractual waiver from Netflix in February 2026, WBD reopened negotiations with Paramount Skydance. On February 26, 2026, WBD's board determined that Paramount Skydance's revised $110.9 billion offer constituted a superior proposal to the existing Netflix agreement. Netflix declined to match the offer and withdrew, allowing Paramount Skydance to proceed as the winning bidder. If the deal gets the regulatory approval and closes, Paramount Skydance plans to merge its streaming service Paramount+ with HBO Max into one combined service.

On April 23, 2026, WBD's shareholders approved the sale to Paramount Skydance.

The pre-trial press conference would be on February 24, 2027, as the Paramount & Warner Bros. trial was scheduled to take place from March 2 to 19, 2027.

On June 12, 2026, the sale was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. In July 2026, California and 11 other U.S. states, as well as the Writers Guild of America, filed antitrust lawsuits to delay the consummation of the purchase, arguing that the combined company's share of box office and cable television revenue post-acquisition would give it undue leverage over film exhibitors and television providers. On September 21, 2026, Paramount announced a proposed out-of-court settlement, subject to a five-year consent decree mandating specific investments towards film production and acquisition, restrictions on its engagement with film exhibitors and television providers, and the establishment of an independent board to oversee the editorial integrity and independence of CBS News and CNN post-acquisition, among other conditions. The court delayed its approval in order to allow amicus briefs by parties opposed to the settlement, who argued that its antitrust remedies were not strong enough to address the original concerns raised in the suit; the settlement was approved on September 30, 2026, with Paramount stating that it expected to complete the acquisition by October 6, 2026.

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